Report: Social Media Trail Links Rioters in Ferguson to Those in Baltimore

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP29 Apr 2015

A new analysis of social media posts spanning the last two years reveals a link between the instigators of the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, last year and this week’s unrest in Baltimore.

The report issued by Fox News alleges that up to 50 social media accounts were used to guide protesters in both cities.

The Fox News report says that the chain of messages tends to show the existence of a network of “professional protesters” who are at the center of many of these destructive attacks.

The analysis also alleges that one account also linked to unrest in New York seemed to use language that presaged the violence in Baltimore.

“The discovery that some social media accounts were tied to cities 825 miles apart was described to Fox News as ‘surprising,'” the report says. “While it is possible to spoof accounts and make it appear as if someone is in one location when they are really in another, the data mining firm told Fox News that it can’t fully explain the numbers.”

Fox also notes that police have already announced that rioters have used social media to organize their attacks. In fact, one such message shockingly urged readers to “kill all white police officers.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.